HighTide to present five world premieres at Edinburgh Festival

HighTide has announced that it will present five new productions at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe before transferring them to its Aldeburgh (11 to 16 September) and Walthamstow (18 to 30 September) festivals.

Its new mentoring scheme for playwrights and producers will provide financial and creative support to new theatre-makers.

This year's line-up includes four associate productions; Jessica Butcher's Sparks, a two-hander musical about the brain's response to grief; Danusia Samal's Busking It, a gig-theatre piece about busking on the tube; The Extinction Event from David Aula and Simon Evans, about what happens when science starts thinking for itself; and Harry Blake's comedy musical Thor and Loki.

HighTide's centrepiece production this year will be Songlines, a coming of age tale by Aldeburgh-based writer Tallulah Brown featuring live folk music.

For the Edinburgh Fringe Songlines, Sparks, Busking It and The Extinction Event will run at Pleasance throughout August. Thor and Loki will run at Assembly.

HighTide's co-founder and artistic director Steven Atkinson said: "The fringe remains the key development ground for new writers and producers, so HighTide helping these artists to make the most of it artistically and as a launch pad is an exciting new element of HighTide' s unique work in championing new talent.

"In then presenting the plays at our Aldeburgh and Walthamstow festivals, HighTide can both further support the artists in their career development and also ensure a wide range of audiences see the work.'

During their eleven-year history, Suffolk-based theatre company HighTide has helped to launch the careers of British playwrights including Luke Barnes, Elinor Cook, Rob Drummond, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Ella Hickson, Vinay Patel, Nick Payne, Beth Steel and Jack Thorne.